1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to transmitting signals, in particular audio signals, between two send/receive interfaces, and provides a method of transferring information signals between two separate interfaces with an optimum transit time, the method including processing of the signals. The present invention also relates to a communication device employing the method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In many communication systems, and in telecommunication equipment in particular, it is necessary to interconnect at least two send/receive interfaces to establish communication between stations of the same network or two different networks, using similar or even identical information data formats.
In such situations, the processing applied to the data to be transmitted generally causes routing time-delays which can be incompatible with setting up bidirectional communication in real time or virtually in real time, as is required for a telephone or videophone connection.
Existing solutions regenerate the signal completely by applying all of the processing to the whole of the signal, i.e. to the signaling data and to the user data. The time-delay induced in the user data becomes unacceptable to the user and their listening comfort in voice mode if the signals pass through several units of this type in cascade, as the induced time-delays are additive.
The object of the present invention is to propose a simple solution which optimizes time constraints in setting up communication and transferring data between two interfaces without modifying the hardware of the interfaces or of the system incorporating them, without any significant modification of the processing applied to the signals received and sent or to the data to be transferred, and without any additional dedicated processing.